Media Planning

Media planners are responsible for all the media related to an advertising campaign, from online videos and television commercials to write-ups, articles and reviews. Becoming a media planner can be a great move in the field of marketing for the individual with a keen eye for hot, exciting trends.

There are many positions available in the field of marketing, but one of the most crucial is that of the media planner. Most students will learn about and gain a lot of practice in media planning throughout their marketing degree program careers as they coordinate, create, and design content to be used in a marketing campaign.

Most individuals who are interested in this career path will start out in entry level positions as assistants or as buyers who help coordinate the purchase and creation of various forms of media for the media planner. This can include coordinating with writers, artists, graphic designers, and filmmakers as well as social media experts to help create a full marketing strategy incorporating all these various forms of media.

One important thing that media planners learn is to integrate all aspects of the media that they are using as part of a whole. An informal video uploaded online can be a great way of drawing in a demographic but that demographic could quickly be lost if other parts of the campaign fail to live up to that same informal, lively expectation. The same is true of more traditional marketing methods, which can have a hard time transitioning into newer forms of media.

It is also important as a media planner to pay close attention to customer feedback and to use information gathered in this way to influence all forms of media across the spectrum. This is something that is often lost on those who have just left their marketing degree programs and who often tend to take a no-holds barred approach to marketing, using every gimmick in the book in order to appeal to the largest number of potential clients and customers possible. It is also important to remember that the marketing strategy itself must in some way be closely linked to the product.

Students will learn as they study the art of media planning in their marketing degree programs that it isn’t just about creating fresh, original content and making sure that the content created across these various forms works together. Students will also learn aspects of customer psychology and how to interpret market research in order to meet customer needs, address concerns, and spark their interest in a variety of ways.